This year, for the first time, we have assessed the leadership across the force at every level. The assessment has led to a narrative rather than graded judgment, which is summarised below.
Read more about my assessment of Cleveland Police’s performance this year, including where I would like to see improvements next year.
In its PEEL inspections this year, HMIC found some areas of serious concern in the performance of Cleveland Police in keeping people safe and reducing crime. I am pleased that the force has moved to address concerns identified in previous HMIC reports, but further improvement on the issues HMIC has raised in more recent reports is now required.
I have some serious concerns about the performance of Cleveland Police in keeping people safe and reducing crime, and how prepared it is to meet future financial challenges.
I am particularly concerned by the force’s approach to protecting some of the most vulnerable people. HMIC found inconsistencies in the identification of vulnerable victims at the first point of contact with the police. We also found that the force does not respond to all incidents within the required timescale. However, I am encouraged to see the improved quality of the force’s crime investigations; and the force works well to identify and disrupt organised criminality.
I am not satisfied that the force’s financial plans will enable it to meet forthcoming pressures. The force also has more to do to match its workforce model to its demand so that the public receives the best possible service. I am pleased, however, that the force is exploring options for maximising funding opportunities and working collaboratively with other forces in the region, and this will go some way to bridge the budgetary shortfall beyond 2016.
While we found an ethical culture in Cleveland, the force needs to provide greater support to its staff and officers and enhance the wellbeing of the whole workforce.
Description of force area
Cleveland Police provides policing services to the areas of Middlesbrough, Stockton-on-Tees, Hartlepool and Redcar and Cleveland. Although there are some areas of affluence, Cleveland is generally poor. Around 0.6 million people mainly live in the urban centres which include Middlesbrough, Hartlepool and Stockton-on-Tees. The resident population is increased by university students and the large numbers who visit or travel through the area each year. The transport infrastructure includes sea ports.
The proportion of areas in Cleveland that are predicted to present a very high challenge to the police is higher than the national average. These are characterised by social deprivation or a concentration of commercial premises (including licensed premises), and in some cases both.
Working arrangements
Cleveland Police has outsourced a number of support service responsibilities to private providers. This has included the force contact centre provided by Sopra Steria, which assesses and prioritises calls for service.
The force is continuing to develop collaborative arrangements with other forces. A joint special operations unit with Durham Constabulary provides police dog, traffic services and firearms support. The force is also exploring opportunities to collaborate on the investigation of serious, specialist and complex crimes with both Durham Constabulary and North Yorkshire Police. Further exploratory work with Durham Constabulary and Northumbria Police continues over the provision of public order training.
The deputy chief constable has recently been appointed to the position of temporary chief constable. This has triggered a number of further temporary promotions within the command team.
Effectiveness
In our effectiveness inspection, we judged Cleveland Police to require improvement in the way in which it keeps people safe and reduces crime. The force investigates crime and manages offenders effectively. The force works very well to tackle serious and organised crime. Although Cleveland Police understands the importance of protecting vulnerable people, there is improvement needed in the way it initially identifies and responds to vulnerable people. How it prevents crime and anti-social behaviour also requires improvement. This is the first year HMIC has graded forces on their overall effectiveness so a year-on-year comparison is not possible.
Efficiency
Cleveland Police is partly prepared to face its future financial challenges. It has balanced the budget and has a good track record of achieving savings, although future plans beyond 2016 are projecting a budget deficit. The force needs to improve its understanding of the demand on its services and will need to change its processes and workforce allocation significantly to meet demand and address this deficit. In last year’s value for money inspection, which considered how forces had met the challenge of the previous spending review period, Cleveland was judged to be good.
Legitimacy
Cleveland Police has an ethical culture, and the workforce know the standard of behaviour that is expected of them. During our spring inspection, the force was integrating the Code of Ethics into its policy and practice – our later inspection recognised improvements. We found that the force had started to respond to concerns raised by its workforce about their wellbeing.
Cleveland Police fully understands the relationship between engagement and legitimacy at both a strategic and local level, and we are impressed by the commitment of officers to engaging and working closely with their local communities.
I am satisfied that Cleveland Police is complying with almost all the features of the Best Use of Stop and Search scheme, and that Taser is used fairly and appropriately.
This is the first time HMIC has graded forces on their legitimacy, so no year-on-year comparison is possible.
Leadership
The workforce of Cleveland Police has high regard for chief officers, whom they view as credible, visible and approachable. The force is improving its communications and the engagement with its workforce.
The force has developed some effective leadership programmes, although these could be improved by covering a broader range of skills.
Insights from other inspections
HMIC undertakes other inspections in addition to the PEEL programme. Since the last PEEL assessment there have been five reports published on inspections that included Cleveland Police. More detail on some of these inspections can be found under the Other inspections section.
Looking ahead to PEEL 2016
In the year ahead, I will be interested to see how the force responds to this assessment, along with the cause of concern and areas for improvement that HMIC has identified in the last year.
I will be particularly interested to see:
- how the new senior leadership team leads improvements across the force;
- how the force develops its ability to understand and manage its demand, such that priority is given to responding quickly and appropriately to the most vulnerable victims, and officers have time to spend on crime prevention;
- the progress of the force’s organisational reviews to ensure the workforce model matches the service demands in priority areas;
- the outcome of work to explore options for maximising funding opportunities and working collaboratively with other forces such that, in combination with the organisational reviews, the force achieves the further savings required; and
- improvements to the wellbeing and morale of the workforce.
In May 2016, like the majority of forces in England and Wales, the force will see the second elections for its police and crime commissioner.
